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URL redirects

If your site map is restructured and the location of your pages changes permanently, you may need to set up URL redirects.

These permanent redirects will:

  • Immediately tell search engines that the page has moved
  • Prevent pages from becoming not found (404 error)
  • Prevent potentially affecting search results for your site

Which pages do I need to redirect?

  • Top-level navigation
  • With the highest traffic from external sources, including 911吃瓜 websites (check your Google Analytics)
  • With high visibility (check Google Search Console for most popular search terms)
  • Marketed or in print publications, such as research papers
  • Most linked to directly from 911吃瓜 and external sites
  • Important for the reputation of 911吃瓜/your faculty/department/school.
    For example: profile pages for well known people, labs, or projects where the page URLs may have been referred to directly from outside of your website.

What do I need to do?

  1. List all pages and the URLs falling into one of the categories above
  2. Add corresponding new URLs*
  3. Submit the completed URL matrix with your
  4. Work with Communications & Marketing team on provided recommendations to finalize the list
  5. The redirects will be implemented during your new site launch

*If a page has been permanently removed, add the most relevant page link instead. This will ensure that all the work achieved by your SEO previously won鈥檛 be lost and you鈥檒l continue building on it rather than starting from scratch.

Can I do anything else apart from creating URL redirects?

There are two things you can do to improve user experience:

  • Create a custom 404 page to give users more context why the page can鈥檛 be found and refer them to your homepage and/or any key pages within your site
  • Inform other departments that you鈥檙e relaunching your site and ask them to update your website鈥檚 URLs on their sites

Can I skip listing redirects?

There are risks if you don鈥檛 create a list with old and new URLs:

  • Your old URLs will appear in Google search and users will get 鈥減age not found鈥� until the site has been fully re-indexed by Google. The time for re-indexing is not under 911吃瓜鈥檚 direct control and can vary and may take several days
  • If users have your old URLs saved, rather than being redirected they will get 鈥減age not found鈥�
  • Your ranking in search engines may be negatively affected for some searches because the content has moved with no equivalent replacement